Links, 8.9.10

Observe the elegant numeric sequence that can only occur on today’s date using the North American style of date notation. I probably should use the international date sequence in these post titles the way I do in genealogy notation. It’d be more scholarly and authentic and all. But then I think, “Oh, for crying out loud. It’s the links!” And here they are.

Crisis in Camden: As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, trustees say that the Camden, N.J. library system may Have. To. Close. Facing a breathtaking two-thirds reduction in funding, trustees say they simply cannot run the city’s three libraries on what is left, which would end operations after Dec. 31. Now, there is still some back-and-forth about alternatives, including the possibility that the county library system would take over at least one branch. But I don’t think we can shrug off moments like this as PR theater. When you’re looking at drastic library funding cuts as a national problem, it’s foolish to dismiss the chances that somewhere, sometime someone’s really going to close up shop. (Actually, someone has, in Hood, Oregon, though voters will have a chance to restore a funding mechanism later this year.) In Camden’s case, closure would mean disposing of a collection that includes phone books from the 1880s and newspaper microfilm starting in the 1870s. Oh, and putting this stuff in storage costs money too. Sorry for the long blurb, but the library problem keeps me awake at nights.

Home run: … for a dedicated great-nephew, that is. Congratulations to the very determined Ron Hill, who succeeded in getting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. to properly identify his great-uncle, John Preston (“Pete”) Hill, on the bronze marker honoring him. Currently, he’s called “Joseph” Preston Hill. The Hall of Fame will commission a new marker to be unveiled in October for this outstanding star of the Negro Leagues. It’s a great story of what happens when baseball and genealogy fanatics join forces.

The empire groweth again: Ancestry.com acquires the professional research firm ProGenealogists. Here’s the press release.

Hey, it’s a living: I like the Liverpool Echo family history column so much. Here, it offers a great rundown on interpreting what job titles meant in Victorian England.

Reunion at Mount Vernon: A moving story about the 85th (wow!) reunion of the Quander clan, whose ancestors were slaves on George Washington’s estate, where they gathered for the very first time this weekend.

In the blogging world: Thomas MacEntee unveiled a newly updated Blog Primer at Geneabloggers; go and see. And I am humbled by the beauty of the submissions to the genealogy scrapbooking carnival hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene.